A CHILD OF THE TROUBLES: PRISON RIOTS PARAMILITARIES MURDER PEACE

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When asked about sectarian murder, Payne said “I can understand how some people on our side could justify this type of murder. Personally, I would not engage in a sectarian battle." Payne also claimed, probably with good cause, that the Official IRA had him “under sentence of death.” It is unclear if the OIRA, or the PIRA, ever did try to kill him. His “own side” certainly did, as we shall see, in 1978. Calderwood’s pal, Billy Grogan, who was described in court as a “ruthless gangster” was caged for 15 years for being the brains behind the terrifying robbery on a Bournemouth snooker club. Your record suggests that you have been involved in robbery since your teenage years in Belfast.” He added that Grogan’s last spell in prison had failed to deter him from continuing his life as a “ruthless gangster.” In 1993, with two partners, Calderwood started a Seattle chain of retro barbershops called Rudy's. The successful venture grew to a chain of eight Seattle shops and nine others in Portland, New York and Los Angeles.

McClinton was jailed for two murders; a politically uninvolved Catholic civilian, and a Protestant bus driver. Neither killing had any effect on “the IRA rebellion.” Why would they? A former loyalist paramilitary, Grogan, 51, denied his part in the early morning raid at The Academy in Christchurch Road in October 2000 We spotted the 50-year-old him yesterday afternoon alighting from a dark coloured Renault Scenic car on the loyalist Shankill Road in west Belfast. It was all I could do to run and get out of there. Alan has remained in my thoughts and prayers every day. I sometimes feel guilty that I survived it and he didn't," Ms Breen says. Defending Grogan, Stuart Patterson said his client had been “attempting to lead a legitimate life” after being involved in crime from an early age.I think Payne had protection from some elements of the state in the early days of the Troubles, but I think he'd outlived any usefulness he had as the conflict progressed. I think a lot of the RUC were keen to see him behind bars. Payne, according to Adair, was involved in the setting up of the Ulster Defence Force training camps, and kept an eye out for new recruits at Crumlin Road Opportunities. By 1980, Payne was running Crumlin Road Opportunities, a cross-community project aimed at training with vocational skills young people who would contemporaneously be described as NEET – Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Trainees included Johnny Adair (who discusses the project in his autobiography) and Skelly McCrory. McCrory was at an event hosted by the Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1982. The Lord Mayor, Tommy Patton, “paid particular tribute” to Payne ( Belfast Telegraph, 18/06/82).

You may or may not be acquainted with the name, Alex Calderwood, but you will most certainly have either lived or heard of the Troubles that terrorised the neighbourhoods of Northern Ireland. From their beginning in 1969, until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and beyond, all Northern Irish people have a story to tell - and it's not a pretty one. These are stories of pain and anguish, of lives lost; lives still emphasised by empty chairs in the homes of loved ones. You may or may not be acquainted with the name, Alex Calderwood, but you will most certainly have either lived or heard of the Troubles that terrorised the neighbourhoods of Northern Ireland. From their beginning in 1969, until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and beyond, all Northern Irish people have a story to tell — and it’s not a pretty one. These are stories of pain and anguish, of lives lost; lives still emphasised by empty chairs in the homes of loved ones.

While on duty on the Ballygomartin Road she said a well-known loyalist, Alex Calderwood, known as Oso, stopped her patrol car and asked her to take him to Tennent Street station where he confessed to a brutal sectarian murder. Whilst White is typically exaggerating when he says C Company were responsible for “90%” of sectarian murder from 1972 – 1976, it is true that the west Belfast UDA had within its ranks pitiless murderers and sadists with the drive and capacity to murder any nationalist civilians that they could get access to, often after barbaric abduction and torture. From teenage boys, to middle aged mothers, the 1970s Belfast UDA murdered on scale, and at pace. They killed far more people than the Adair era UDA did.

The murder of Carson was unusual for the UDA at that time. It involved a high level of planning, and up-to-date intelligence. Dodds and Mullan called at Carson’s home, but he wasn’t in. They returned later that day, and sat with his family until Carson finally arrived home, at which point they shot him dead. This was a killing which wouldn’t have been out of place in John McMichael’s “shopping list” of killings in 1980 and 1981 (more of which in part 3). It was arguably more sophisticated a killing, with a more consequential impact on the IRA, than anything Adair’s C Company did. One of the men convicted of killing Carson was named David Milton Dodds, the other was a man named Mullan. Another man named Dodds, “Winkie” became a senior C Company figure in the 80s and 90s, ultimately falling foul of Adair as did his brother, Milton Dodds. A source indicated that David Milton Dodds is Winkie Dodds brother, though I cannot say for sure if he is or not. There are two years between them in age.Hugh was hit and then another gunman came up and fired more rounds into his body as he was lying on the ground. Calderwood grew up in a suburb of Seattle and started his career as the manager of a clothing store in the city called International News. Using his eclectic taste for vintage objects, he bought material from a Boeing surplus store to create a unique atmosphere, Amit Shah, who hired Calderwood, told the Seattle Times.